Pensacola Beach- Fort Pickens

The holidays took us back home to the Panhandle. Although I hate that it was 75 degrees in December there, it sure beats the 85 we had here. We weren't in town long (and visiting family for holidays) so we only went out into town once.

We stopped at a lake on the way.

Coming from Pensacola, there's a park next to Three-Mile Bridge. I've seen the park a ton, but never stopped there. A few people were fishing and jogging on the trail. There were fishing stations set up so I'm assuming it's a regular spot. As luck would have it, the whole trip was rainy/foggy. It was neat to see the bridge disappear into the fog though.

Pensacola Bay Bridge

Blurry pic from a moving vehicle :)

We crossed over the bridge, through Gulf Breeze, and to the beach. It's $1 per vehicle to get onto the beach area (parking, restaurants, bars, houses, hotels, etc).

Fun Fact- It used to be $0.50/axle (as in $1 per average vehicle), but people didn't know how many axles a car has and it caused confusion; especially with the gate having a basket for coins instead of a person taking tolls. Now the sign states $1 for cars and there's a person to take your money (which also stopped the clogging up of the basket with random plastic and whatnot).  

Pensacola Beach is laid-back, not overly crowded with businesses, and has white, powdery sand. With the rainy weather causing choppy water and undertow, the red flag was flying and the only people in the water were a few surfers. 

The fort is down the road from the main beach area. There's a spot to pull off the road for a few minutes before you get the entrance gate. 

Fort Pickens has a $15 entrance fee per vehicle. This gets you a pass for 7 days. If we lived in the area, I would have just gone for the $30 annual pass. 

There are trails, camping, and historic sites within the park. For park information, including tours and history, look into the National Park Service page. I was told that the road leading in was recently flooded so no traffic was permitted until it cleared.

The fort itself is at the end of the road. Along the way, we stopped at Battery Langdon and Battery Worth.

View from the top of Battery Langdon

We did the self-guided tour through Fort Pickens. There were numbers corresponding to the brochure that told you how that section was used during the time. 

 It would be fun to ride bikes on the trail and stop at the batteries/sites or to camp on the beach. 

Our video shows a little more detail on what we saw there. It was a good visit despite the weather.